Dissertation
CAN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AUGMENTED REALITY (AR) IN THE SCOTTISH CURRICULUM INCREASE STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN UPPER SECONDARY EDUCATION?
Researchers such as Toquero (2020) have demonstrated that traditional teaching methods may have become outdated and are failing to engage students. Thus, it is topical during a time such as the pandemic where teaching modalities have shifted to investigate how to better encourage students to study autonomously in class. With this in mind, the current study aimed to examine the implementation of immersive technology in the Scottish curriculum in upper secondary education. The research acknowledged the lack of current knowledge on immersive technology and secondary school education in Scotland. The results of this study showed that overall, the students in this cohort experienced the benefits of immersive technology and confirmed that they would use it again. The findings have generated the potential for future research opportunities, and these are discussed along with limitations such as defining the issue within each subject and implementation regarding the study’s methodology.
In this study, students were given an immersive handout with QR codes that contained educational content the children were currently learning. I achieved the results of my research through a mixed-methods approach. The children had to rate their experience through a quantitative questionnaire and respond through a qualitative feedback section. I chose this topic because most students have not experienced immersive technology yet show positive engagement levels when interacting with technology. So far, traditional teaching methods such as lecture-based learning have shown poor class interaction. Moreover, through this learning experience, we see this lack of engagement negatively affect students' performance and interest in the class (Hu-Au, and Lee, 2017). Therefore, it is prudent that this dissertation attempts to bridge the gap in the literature of whether immersive technology can increase student engagement levels.
